Is Fan apathy setting in?

Dear Skink, OMG you are full of yourself. Basically all you do is call people names (Idiot, Zilla, chicken, troll.) Is the only way you feel good about yourself is to put people down? This is a board for debate. So, people are not required to agree with you. I was not talking about just football and basketball (I never demanded a change in these coaches yet ). I actually thought Mullin was a good hire. But soccer, women's basketball, golf, cross country, etc. Didn't we just lose the overall SEC sports trophy for the first time in ages. Our total athletic results have gone down ever year he has been here. Agreed that during his time here facilities have vastly improved. But winning is the name of the game.

 

I think I touched a nerve
FWIW, I called the guy “Zilla” because his handle is @gatorzilla91 . Oh the horrors! “Chicken”?….got no idea where you come up with that one. Which takes us to ‘idiot’ and ‘troll’, neither of which I called anybody.

I did say only an idiot or a troll would call for a total UAA house-cleaning after our two new coaching staffs have only been in place for one year. I stand by that statement, and I did not call anybody either of those. But if the shoe fits…..

Now feel free to run to your safe place with your hurt feelings. Or better yet, stop trashing Stricklin and give Napier and Golden a break from your incessant bitching and judgement.

Go Gators

 

LOL you are the last person I need validation from. And I stand by my statement that Stricklin is just average at best. I am sorry you don't accept reality.

 

The football and basketball futiures are on him but it’ll be awhile to see how they turn out. It would be amateurish as hell to make a move now.

 

Football has to pick it up in the next few years. Football is the undisputed king and there are no other challengers.

 

Football and basketball are the marquee sports and when those 2 are struggling it gives the appearance that the entire athletic department is in trouble. Football drives the money train and there's no doubt Florida football has been floundering for many years. With basketball, the AD waited too long to replace Mike White, IMO, and that has caused the program to sink to depths it needn't have. Not sure if Todd Golden is the right guy for the job, but seeing who we have coming back and the fact that he only signed 2 seemingly mediocre high school players means that he's going to have to strike gold in the portal or next year will be even worse. Under Jeremy Foley's leadership, Florida was built into, arguably, the most consistently successful all-around athletic department in the country. He made mistakes in hiring here and there and neglected upgrading football facilities for too long. But his hires that remain in lacrosse, baseball, softball, track and field, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, plus Mary Wise's volleyball teams, continue to excel. The SEC has improved as a league in putting emphasis on all sports, making it harder for UF to stay totally dominant in all around athletics like it did for so many years. And with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, the challenges will be even greater. Scott Stricklin has been the AD since 2016 and does deserve criticism for our failures in football and basketball, IMO. Billy Napier may or may not be the guy to right the ship in football, but needs to be given a few more years for things to play out. I'm a lifelong Gator, a '73 alum, and will always pull for all Gator coaches, athletes and teams and watch as many events as I can. Debate and honest opinions are, supposedly, what these boards are all about and what we all what, I'm sure, is for Florida to win as many championships as possible and at least be competitive and in the mix for titles year in and year out. With the resources and recruiting base we have, plus the proven track record of high level accomplishment, that's a reasonable expectation.

 

Not going to address coaches other than to say neither BN or TG have had enough time to be judged.

On fan apathy, when I went to UF the football team was not good (mid 80s). But students went and every game was sold out. I went to most games but did miss a few to study (eng major). My kids went to UF (both technical majors) and one went to a couple games a year and the other went to about half. Again, the team was not good (2013-now).

Winning certainly matters but I think other things also play. First, when I went to UF watching the game on TV (when not on probation) did not even compare to being at a game. Now, with huge TVs (homes/bars) that gap has lessened, especially for a generation raised on electronics. Second, the project has changed pretty radically. While everyone knew $100 handshakes occurred, there was less of the open notion that players went to the highest bidder or transferred whenever they wanted. As an aside, I do not blame players for joining in this in a purely capitalistic fashion, they are just doing what the colleges, coaches, conference and NCAA have done for decades.

Third, fewer students played football as youths (or played as long). Other sports (soccer, lacrosse) are more popular. Also, most parents today realize that encouraging a kid to "sell out" in high school for an athletic scholarship to one day make money is a far inferior approach to getting good grades and academic (bright futures) scholarships. My kids, for example, were not raised thinking NFL QBs were awesome people/figures to emulate (though they loved Tebow), they were more fans of world/business/movement leaders. Their world in high school and college was far larger than Gainesville or Florida.

Finally, I do believe that current UF students face a far more competitive world than we did. Getting into UF is much harder and when they get out they face a world of competition in most industries (and those local industries/businesses that haven't faced large scale competition will).

I think it is easy to criticize current students as not being UF fans, but the experience of my kids leaves me with a different take. My kids LOVED their UF experience, love the University, and still see their university friends. They have great jobs, don't love Gator sports (may watch a little), and they stay in touch with Uf friends (intramural/greek/etc). I'm fine with that. Think the change has to do with winning but also a changing world.

 

How can you say that? Badminton brother, badminton!!!

 

Like I said before, thank you Spring Sports!!

 

Are we the champions, oh Yippy.

 

Tough times Wanne15, but it will get better! Reports out of UFs spring camp seem encouraging.

 

I have started to pull away from both football and basketball. When legislation was signed for NIL, I knew that both were the best we would ever see again. It's all about the money now with so much turnover every year, why even look at the roster. In fact, I don't even care about recruiting because chances are a year later half of them are going to hit the portal. If I can't bond to a team, I won't watch. I never liked the idea of one-and-dones, it's why I'm glad I'm not a Kentucky fan because I wouldn't be one by now. I loved the 04s, my pick as the best 'team' college basketball has ever seen since then. Not because they were the baddest but because of the way they treated each other and stuck together when 99% of the teams today would have jumped to the NBA. As a fan, I looked forward to every year with them. Football got worse first because of NIL. The best as a UF fan was Tim's tenure and we will never see that again in our lifetimes.

 

You can chalk that up to the presence of a new coach with a lot of fanfare and high expectations. CBN now has the stink of a losing season on him. The fans won't stay involved in the football program if we continue to put an inferior product on the field. Winners have a million friends; losers are orphans.

 

This is true to an extent, but we are about to have another six or eight wins season more than likely. Fans better have some patience at this point.

 

Since Urban Meyer left (2010) the Gators have had four head coaches, averaged 7.5 wins and won zero conference titles. The fans can be forgiven if their patience has worn a little thin. The result is a drop in attendance and less interest in the program. Hopefully CBN can turn that around but the product on the field has to improve year by year for the next three years and at least win an SEC East title or his seat will get progressively hotter. I wish him the best.

 

That’s pretty much true, but I doubt his seat gets very hot. As long as he’s improving. Meeting Georgia in the next three years may be a little unreasonable that’s going to be a tall mountain to climb if Kirby keeps recruiting the way he is.

 

The heat is more indirect. If football and basketball struggle this year SS is on the hot seat Napier and Golden get at least 3 years… Napier should get more. But the wildcard is what happens to SS

 

I think Stricklin will get to see out Napier

 

Completely agree. IMO CBN was hired with the expectation that UF would recruit with the best and would reinstate UF as THE place for Florida HS talent to commit to.

While CBN did well with his 2nd class, IMO
UF gained little if any traction against the top teams in the SEC.

While we all hope scouting and evaluation will make a difference instead of star ratings, I think we can only push that point so far unless we choose to decieve ourselves.

5 star recruits, any position, within 2 - 3 hours from Gainesville, in UFs backyard, can't continue to go to other programs,
I.e. Bama, Ohio State, Clemson, UGA, etc if the Gators are to have a realistic chance to compete for championships.

 

The temperature of CBN's "seat" won't be determined solely by the volume of discontent coming from a dwindling fan base (and it is getting smaller). It will be a function of quiet apathy on the part of a large body of former fans who don't go to games any longer and who don't watch the games on TV any longer. Don't think for a minute that TV ratings don' matter; they very much do. That very large, apathetic fan base will translate into such a loss of TV and other related revenues that the administration will be forced to react. If CBN doesn't demonstrate a sharp upward trajectory with at least an SEC East title in the next three years it won't matter what a great guy he is. The economics of modern NCAA Division I football will determine his fate.